HST 230    Life in the Ghetto

I. The New Jewish Problem
  A. Poland 
        1. Nazis invade in 1939
	2. 2.3 million Jews added to the Reich
  B. Territorial Solutions 
        1. Eastern Poland [MAP]
		a. Adolf Eichmann, Reich Security Main Office
		b. logistical nightmare; plan falls apart
	2. Madagascar [MAP]
		a. Reinhard Heydrich
		b. the Nazis assumed that the French colonies would fall 
			soon after France itself had fallen in 1940
		c. and they assumed that England would soon be defeated
		d. then they would force their defeated enemies to ship
			all of Europe's Jews to Madagascar
		e. none of these things happened
	3. Pripet Marshes [MAP]
		a. Nazis invade Russia in 1941
		b. about 100,000 square miles of their new land was marshland
		c. new plan: deport the Jews to eastern Poland and Russia
			and force them to drain the marshes
		d. logistical problems; plan falls apart
II. The Ghetto
  A. Medieval Origins 
        1. Jews lived in the same area in medieval towns
	2. safety in numbers
	3. eventually not allowed to live anywhere else
	4. many ghettos had walls built around them
  B. The Nazi use of Ghettos 
        1. all of their territorial solutions didn't work out
	2. they decided to use temporary holding locations
	3. ghettos made sense for this task since they already had dense
		populations of Jews
	4. in 1941, Heydrich and his fellow Nazis started shipping Jews
		to ghettos in Poland
	5. the plan works so well that they set up dozens more ghettos
		throughout eastern Europe and Russia [MAP]
  C. The Warsaw Ghetto 
        1. Background [MAP]
		a. about 337,000 of 1.3 million are Jews
		b. the Jews are concentrated in the northern part of the city
		c. immediate discrimination after the Nazi invasion
        2. The Jewish Council (Judenrat)
		a. a council of Jews who ran the ghetto for the Nazis
		b. they made sure that all Nazi orders were followed
		c. led by Adam Czerniakow
		d. Nazis dealt only with the Judenrat
		e. no other organizations allowed, except for some welfare groups
        3. The Wall
		a. Hans Frank, Governor General of Poland
			- he decided on the location of the ghetto
		b. a wall around the ghetto started going up in April 1940 
		c. it was 10 feet high; it was topped with barbed wire and broken glass
		d. built by the German company Schmidt and Munstermann
			- who also built the Treblinka death camp
		e. the Jews themselves had to pay for the building of the wall
		f. over 100,000 non-Jews lived in the "Jewish quarter"
		g. they were forced out and other Jews from around Warsaw were
			forced to move in
		h. eventually about 400,000 Jews living in the ghetto (about 1.3 sq. miles)
			- about 30% of the population living in 2.5% of the space
        4. Food Rations and Starvation
		a. the Nazis only allowed a small amount of food into the ghetto
		b. rations amounted to about 180 calories per person per day
		c. this led to a massive amount of starvation
		d. the average mortality rate was about 4000 deaths per month
		e. population numbers didn't move much, even though the Nazis
			shipped thousands of Jews and Gypsies into the ghetto
        5. Disease
		a. typhus was rampant; spread by lice
		b. the Nazis didn't allow much medicine into the ghetto
		c. thus, immunization was very expensive
		d. the Jewish council's health office was unable to deal with the epidemic
			1. they sent out disinfection units
			2. the sulfur wasn't strong enough to kill the lice
			3. the sulfur also ruined linens and clothing
			4. thus, people bribed them to avoid their houses/apartments
			5. they also tried to use disinfection steam baths
			6. but they didn't have the facilities to accommodate 
				the large population
        6. Begging
		a. a lot of begging done by children
		b. they often carried pictures of themselves from healthier days
			to elicit sympathy
		c. adults who begged often took children with them to elicit sympathy
		d. winter was a problem
			1. many were homeless, no shoes, ragged clothing
			2. thousands froze to death in the streets
        7. Smuggling
		a. began almost immediately after the wall went up
		b. food, medicine, clothing, housewares, raw materials
		c. about 80% of food consumed in the ghetto was smuggled in
		d. children were involved because of their small size
		e. holes in the wall, holes in buildings, tunnels
		f. even through the gates themselves; guards could be bribed
        8. The Police
		a. The Polish Police
			1. more ruthless than the Nazis
			2. killed smugglers, even children
			3. Gov. General issued a decree in Nov. 1941 that said Jews 
				found outside the ghetto without a pass would be executed
			4. this gave the police license to shoot them on the spot
			5. they also extorted money from Jews in the ghetto
				- e.g., for "air defense" (protection money)
		b. The Jewish Ghetto Police
			1. organized by the Judenrat
			2. over 2000 policemen
			3. carried batons instead of guns
			4. a lot of them came from pre-war organized crime groups
			5. they took bribes and extorted money from their fellow Jews
			6. Section 13 was even more corrupt, ruthless
				a. name comes from their address at 13 Leszno Street
				b. initially set up to stop smuggling
				c. reported directly to the Gestapo; seen as collaborators
				d. sometimes called the "Jewish Gestapo"
				e. why did they do this?
					1. not that many of them
					2. criminal elements in all societies
					3. self-preservation
        9. Self-Help and Foreign Aid Organizations
		a. self-help groups popped up to help the sick and starving
		b. they were often supplied by foreign aid organizations
			such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
		c. but American aid stopped when the US entered the war
		d. the self-help groups organized "house committees"
		e. collected food, goods, clothes from better-off families in each building
		f. shamed those who refused to contribute by displaying their names
			at the entrance to the building
        10. Intellectual and Cultural Life
		a. schools
			1. outlawed by Nazis when the ghetto was set up
			2. parents and teachers organized underground schools
			3. Czerniakow and the council pleaded with the Nazis to be allowed
				to open schools
			4. finally allowed in late 1941
			5. 16 elementary schools opened; served about 10,000 children
		b. entertainment
			1. the Jews in the ghetto developed clandestine organizations
				to provide cultural and entertainment opportunities
				(e.g., the Yiddish Cultural Organization)
			2. literary evenings, symphony concerts, libraries, theaters
        11. Deportations
		a. by 1942, the "final solution" was underway
			1. several extermination camps had already been built
			2. for example, Treblinka, 60 miles northeast of Warsaw
		b. the resettlement order was presented to the council on July 22, 1942
			1. all Jews were being resettled in the east
			2. each person could bring 15 kg of luggage, including gold, money, etc.
			3. the Judenrat was responsible for rounding up people 
			4. they had to deliver 6000 people everyday by 4 o'clock
			5. anyone who tried to leave or hindered the action would be shot
		c. the council was forced to comply, so they rounded up criminals and beggars
		d. the very next day, the Nazis increased the quota to 9000 people
		e. Czerniakow couldn't take it; killed himself
		f. the Nazis enticed volunteers with bread and marmalade
		g. at first, there wasn't much resistance
			- no one was certain what would happen
		h. the Jewish police collaborated with the Nazis
			- they were told that they would receive immunity
		i. they soon realized that certain death awaited them, too
			- they abandoned their positions
		j. the SS took over the "resettlement action"
			1. about 65,000 Jews deported in July
			2. about 130,000 deported in August
			3. about 60,000 deported in September
         12. Resistance and Uprising
		a. the Jews learned the truth about the "resettlement action" in August
		b. someone escaped and followed one of the deportation trains
		c. after this, the Jews resisted and tried to avoid deportation
		d. but the SS had plenty of soldiers and guns, and they were efficient
		e. they deported nearly everyone in only a couple of months
		f. and then there was no need to resist because they stopped for a while
		g. but the remaining Jews knew they'd start again, so they prepared
			1. they built underground bunkers and hiding places
			2. they collected weapons
		h. the Nazis returned in January 1943 and the Jews fought back
		i. in mid-April, the Nazis sent in thousands of troops and leveled the ghetto
			- buildings burning, SS patrolling the streets
			- Nazi officers overseeing the operation
			- the aftermath
		j. another 56,000 Jews were killed (or captured and killed later)
			- rounding up Jews during the destruction of the ghetto
			- Jews awaiting deportation
		k. the final death toll was well over 400,000

III. Discussion: The Yellow Star
  Topics
	1. How did Klemperer’s life change when he was forced to wear 
		the yellow star?
	2. What do you think of Klemperer’s description of the yellow star?
	3. What was life like in Nazi Germany for couples in mixed marriages 
		(i.e., when a Jew was married to an Aryan)?
	4. What do you think of the euphemism “gone away” in reference to Jews 
		who no longer lived at certain addresses?
	5. Was being forced to wear a yellow star a kind of ghettoization?  Is this a 
		valid comparison to make?
	6. Do you think other Jews would agree that the day they had to start 
		wearing the yellow star was their worst day under Nazi rule?